Overview

This is an iconoclastic volume on the causes and effects of irrational behaviour. Why do doctors, army generals, high-ranking government officials, and other people in positions of power make bad decisions that cause harm to others? On the other hand, why do people insist on sitting through an awful play or film just because the tickets were expensive? Irrational beliefs and behaviour are virtually universal. It is not only gamblers and parapsychologists that fall into simple statistical traps to do with sample sizes or simple assumptions, but experts of all types, selection committees, and everyday people. ""Irrationality"" is an iconoclastic volume that draws on a mass of intriguing research to examine why we are irrational, the different types of irrationality, the damage it does us, and the possible cures. It also argues that we could significantly reduce irrationality and its effects - but only if we first recognize just how irrational we really are.

Full Product Details

9781905177073

Table of Contents

Reviews

"'Superb! The thinking man's self help book; it left me infinitely wiser, but I know it won't change my behaviour one tiny bit.' BEN GOLDACRE, author of Bad Science Guardian paperback of the week. 'The implicit premise behind this column is that, each week, I say in effect: ""Have a look at this, it's well worth reading."" Today, I go further: explicitly, I now say: ""You must buy this book, for every home should have it.""' NICHOLAS LEZARD - The Guardian 'Terrifying, sometimes comic, very readable and totally enthralling.' OLIVER SACKS 'Extremely gripping and unusually well written.' RICHARD DAWKINS 'A classic... great to see that it's being re-published.' EVAN DAVIS BBC 'One of the most appealing aspects of this book is that its grand pronouncements are few and its specific illustrations plentiful. Stuart Sutherland performs a signal service in collecting and organizing these important studies in such an engagingly written book.' JOHN ALLEN PAULOS London Review of Books 'Highly informative.' GALEN STRAWSON Independent on Sunday 'Lively and readable.' ERNST GELLNER Nature 'Consistently lively, amusing and intriguing... it should be mandatory reading.' TIM ROGERS British Journal of Psychiatry"

* Extremely gripping and unusually well written. -Richard Dawkin, author of the Selfish Gene

'Superb! The thinking man's self help book; it left me infinitely wiser, but I know it won't change my behaviour one tiny bit.' BEN GOLDACRE, author of Bad Science Guardian paperback of the week. 'The implicit premise behind this column is that, each week, I say in effect: Have a look at this, it's well worth reading. Today, I go further: explicitly, I now say: You must buy this book, for every home should have it. ' NICHOLAS LEZARD - The Guardian 'Terrifying, sometimes comic, very readable and totally enthralling.' OLIVER SACKS 'Extremely gripping and unusually well written.' RICHARD DAWKINS 'A classic... great to see that it's being re-published.' EVAN DAVIS BBC 'One of the most appealing aspects of this book is that its grand pronouncements are few and its specific illustrations plentiful. Stuart Sutherland performs a signal service in collecting and organizing these important studies in such an engagingly written book.' JOHN ALLEN PAULOS London Review of Books 'Highly informative.' GALEN STRAWSON Independent on Sunday 'Lively and readable.' ERNST GELLNER Nature 'Consistently lively, amusing and intriguing... it should be mandatory reading.' TIM ROGERS British Journal of Psychiatry

Author Information

Stuart Sutherland was Professor of Psychology at the University of Sussex where he founded the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology. He was also a prolific columnist, with regular articles in the Observer, the New York Times, and the Daily Telegraph.

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